UC harassment inquiry shows system’s shortcomings,...

1of 3Students pass through Sather Gate at UC Berkeley. Faculty members are condemning the university’s handling of a string of recent sexual harassment cases.Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

2of 3UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks will begin providing written reports to UC system President Janet Napolitano on the progress of campus efforts to quickly resolve problems with its handling of sexual assault and sexual harassment cases.Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

3of 3A student sits in front of the library at UC Berkeley. Faculty members say a recent string of harassment cases reveals the university’s slow, confusing process for handling complaints.Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Faculty members at UC Berkeley have stepped forward to condemn the university’s handling of yet another campus sexual harassment case, this one involving numerous complaints against a professor they say has dragged on without significant action for more than a year.

In a letter delivered to Vice Provost Janet Broughton, tenured professors in Berkeley’s South and Southeast Asian Studies department expressed frustration with the university’s drawn-out process for dealing with allegations of sexual harassment and other complaints against a fellow faculty member in their department.

Four cases against the assistant professor were filed with the university’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination during the 2014-15 academic year, none of which has been completed.

In recent weeks, UC Berkeley has come under fire for its handling of a string of high-profile sexual-harassment cases involving a prominent astronomer, an assistant basketball coach and the dean of its law school. This latest case, which includes separate complaints by five students, exemplifies the university’s slow, confusing process for handling allegations of harassment, the faculty members and students involved said.

Limited action

In at least one of the cases, according to documents obtained by The Chronicle, prevention office investigators ruled that the professor’s behavior had been in violation of the university’s sexual harassment policy. The university’s only action so far has been to bar him from contact with any students involved in the complaints or entering the department’s graduate student office while it continues to investigate.

“I’m tired of being told to keep my mouth shut and let the wheels of justice turn, because they’re turning pretty slowly,” said Professor Jeff Hadler, former chair of the South and Southeast Asian Studies department. He was among those who signed the letter to the university Thursday, the same day Cal announced plans to speed up investigations and develop consistent disciplinary actions for all offenders.

The complaints have come against Blake Wentworth, an assistant professor specializing in Tamil literature. He said in an interview that he “categorically” rejects the allegations against him, which include making sexual remarks, inappropriate touching and cursing at students.

“More than anybody, I want the idea of sexual harassment to be clearly articulated. … And I also believe that I have not done it,” said Wentworth, who continues to teach in the department. He showed The Chronicle letters from former students praising him as a teacher.

Professor accused

In an interview, Srushti Vora, a female undergraduate student in the South and Southeast Asian Studies program, expressed disbelief about the claims of harassment, describing Wentworth as “the absolute best professor I have ever had. … If Berkeley loses him, it is a great loss.”

Comparative literature Professor Harsha Ram, who knows and taught two of the students who brought complaints, said, “I find their testimony very credible. Frankly, I doubt whether at this point there are any faculty members left in the departments affected who question their veracity.”

Former South and Southeast Asian Studies graduate students Maria Packman and Ali Hassan, current graduate student Kat Gutierrez and comparative literature student Erin Bennett all have filed separate reports with the prevention office complaining about Wentworth’s behavior. An undergraduate student has also filed a complaint, according to students in the department. That student declined to speak with The Chronicle.

UC Berkeley policy says that its process for investigating and adjudicating such complaints “will be completed within 60 business days from (the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination’s) receipt of a report absent an extension for good cause.” If there is an extension, it says, the complainant and respondent will be notified in writing.

The graduate students’ cases against Wentworth, however, have been pending for between 11 and 14 months. They say they have not received any final findings, known as Case Outcome Letters, extension notifications or timelines for resolution.

‘Policy not clear’

In response to one student whose advocate inquired about making an appeal after an initial finding that her complaint did not constitute sexual harassment, a prevention office official wrote that “admittedly, the policy is not clear on particular process matters related to ‘appeals.’”

Claire Holmes, a spokeswoman for the university, said in an email to The Chronicle: “We understand and share the concerns about the time this has taken. These are the exact issues that the Chancellor and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost announced (Thursday) that they are focused on improving — creating effective processes to detect, investigate and implement timely disciplinary action.”

She wrote that faculty investigators are close to completing their investigation of Wentworth, that the university will move quickly to take actions based on their findings, and that additional resources are being provided to the prevention office.

On Sunday, the university announced that Carla Hesse, dean of social sciences and a faculty member since 1989, will lead its efforts to improve its response to sexual harassment and assault. She will serve in that role until it is filled permanently over the summer, the university said.

Beginning Monday, Jody Shipper, the director for Title IX and sexual violence and sexual assault issues in UC system President Janet Napolitano’s office, will be assigned to work with the Berkeley campus to ensure “the fair and expeditious handling of sexual assault and sexual harassment investigations” through the current semester, the university said.

But South and Southeast Asian Studies Professor Sylvia Tiwon, one of the faculty members who signed the letter to the university about the Wentworth case, expressed frustration that it took bringing media attention to the situation to get action.

“If you don’t speak publicly, it’s like it never happened,” said Tiwon. “And there’s never enough evidence to satisfy everybody. … Think about what these students have to go through. It’s a very demeaning process, and it’s an unbearable choice they have to make, whether to stay in this system and struggle for their careers … or to release from it all and walk away.”

“The reality is that graduate students by their very nature don’t stick around — they graduate, or they drop out,” said Hadler. “And if the system itself is designed to generate delays, then it can be running out the clock in some ways. That’s a real problem.”

‘I felt ashamed’

The incidents described in the complaints against Wentworth date to September 2014, when Bennett began studying Tamil with him. According to her prevention office report, Bennett alleged that over the course of the next two months before she dropped his course, Wentworth brushed her hand, confided in her about his marriage, called her a “poor little lamb,” found excuses to draw too close to her, told her “Tamil is better than sex,” and encouraged her to contact him on his personal email account.

“I felt ashamed because, on paper, what he did to me didn’t seem that bad. But I couldn’t ignore the way it made me feel,” Bennett said.

A faculty member reported Bennett’s case to the prevention office in February 2015. Eight months later, the office sent Bennett a report stating that Wentworth’s conduct “was unprofessional, and exhibited poor personal boundaries,” but ruling he had not violated UC’s sexual harassment policy in her case.

Wentworth called Bennett’s charges “outrageous” and provided a series of email exchanges he had with her, which he said demonstrated his professionalism and her “enthusiasm for the course.”

More complaints filed

In February 2015, South and Southeast Asian Studies grad student Gutierrez said Wentworth asked her to take a walk with him. According to her prevention office report, Gutierrez said that Wentworth held her hand and told her: “I could lose my job. … I’d talk to you more about this, but I’m so attracted to you.” Later, he placed his hand to her head and cupped her ear.

Though she was anxious and angry following the incident, Gutierrez said, she was initially afraid to file a complaint. She reported the incident two months later.

Wentworth denied the allegations, noting that he “at most patted her shoulder,” and said he told her she was an “attractive woman” to explain why he could not engage in conversation about her personal life, according to the prevention office report.

In October 2015, the prevention office ruled that Wentworth’s behavior in the Gutierrez case was in violation of the university’s sexual harassment policy, saying the student’s “version of the incident is more credible than the Respondent’s version.” The prevention office report said the finding would be forwarded to the vice provost’s office.

Former South and Southeast Asian Studies graduate student Hassan filed a complaint with the prevention office in May 2015. In an interview, Hassan said he described incidents where Wentworth smelled of alcohol, talked about the sexual practice of fisting in front of an undergraduate student, and told stories about using cocaine and other drugs. He said he has not heard from the prevention office since he filed the report.

Wentworth said he was unaware of Hassan’s complaint and was “stunned” that he had filed it.

The case that former South and Southeast Asian Studies graduate student Packman brought was about maltreatment rather than sexual harassment. In an interview, Packman said that Wentworth berated her at length in his office, saying she’d been “really f— up.”

Student waits to hear

Wentworth said he was unaware that she had filed a complaint, but acknowledged the exchange in an interview. He said he had called Packman in “after she had submitted a completely unacceptable master’s thesis.” He said “if I have used profanity in front of a student it is only if they have done so with me.”

Packman, who Tiwon described as a “brilliant” student, reported the incident in May 2015. The prevention office offered her additional time to pursue her coursework, but Packman elected to leave the program.

Packman says that the prevention office contacted her in February to arrange a meeting with a committee investigating her complaint over Skype. She said she wrote back with her availability but has not received a response. She said she has not received a formal copy of her investigation report, nor received any updates from the office.

Bennett, who was the first to file a complaint, took medical leave from the university in November 2015. She’d been diagnosed with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder related to the case, according to a note from her physician.

This month, she met with an ad hoc committee made up of two professors and a prevention office representative, apparently continuing her case review. Bennett says they told her that after they reach a verdict, her case will be forwarded to two other committees. Bennett says she does not know what the other committees are or what their charge is. She hopes to return to school in the fall.

‘Untenable situation’

Wentworth declined to comment on the university’s handling of the complaints against him, but said the cases are all different and “should not all be lumped” together. “The adjudication is not done, and I expect to be fully vindicated,” he said.

Said faculty member Ram: “My main concern at present is that the slowness and vagaries of the investigative process have left all affected students in an untenable situation, where they are effectively denied the possibility of continuing their studies in a safe and secure environment, while supportive faculty members look on aghast, with little power to change the situation for the better.”

Melissa Batchelor Warnke is a freelance writer. This article was prepared in conjunction with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.